Mountains, Lakes, Swamps amd Savannas
If you head eastwards from Kigali and drive for about 2.5 to 3 hours, you will arrive at Rwanda's success story - the Akagera National Park. Running north to south and bordering Tanzania, this Park is destined to be a major wildlife and safari destination. Whilst only relatively small compared to other National Parks and coming in at just over 1,150 square km, it still packs in wide variety of wildlife.
Lion have been successfully re-introduced into the Park and the pride, which was relocated from South Africa, are hunting and breeding. Both white and black rhino have also been reintroduced and are protected from poaching by an anti-poaching team.
This means that the Park is now home to the Big 5 and the wide open plains, woodland, marshes, mountains and lakes makes this the perfect safari setting.
Giraffe, antelope and zebra are amongst other species that can be spotted on game drives, along with baboons, monkeys and an incredible 490 bird species including the much sought after red-faced barbet and the white-winged swamp warbler.
For avid birders, the shoebill is also regularly spotted and the Park is home to a good population of raptors.
Boat trips on Lake Ihema reveal large pods of hippos, Nile crocodiles and the chance to spot abundant waterbirds on the island in the middle of the lake and maybe the rare swamp-dwelling sitatunga antelope.